Monday 30 September 2013

Retro Mums

I spotted this in a back issue of the Sunday Times 'Style' magazine.  What would you think if you saw a vintage-styled lady pushing a vintage pram?  Is it really "a step too far"?

Personally, I think this is a bit judgemental!  So what if someone wants to complete their vintage look by having the vintage pram too?  Equally, if a parent wants to style themselves in a vintage way but wants to have the ease of a modern pram then who are we to judge them for not going the whole hog with the vintage look?  If any of you have tried pushing a vintage pram, you'll know that they are incredibly heavy and difficult to manouvre, I'm not sure I would be that dedicated to vintage that I could cope with that - I'm sure being a parent is difficult enough. 

And where does it stop?  Are we going to start criticising people who dress in a vintage style and choose to drive a vintage car or live in a house from a specific era?  Is that a "step too far" as well?


Friday 27 September 2013

First Walk of Autumn

I've been waking up inordinately early.  To take advantage of the early light I've been going for runs and walks.  The most beautiful walk was earlier this month my first Autumn walk this year.  I went to Dinas Powys, a pretty little town in the Vale of Glamorgan, and a short drive from Cardiff.


There's a lovely set of footpaths around Cwm George, a wooded valley that opens out onto farmland.  The country lanes also have a few pretty cottages, and apple trees and blackberry bushes droop over the hedges.  They weren't quite ripe, and I meant to go back with a bucket, but life events mean I never did and somebody else has probably picked them all by now and made a lovely blackberry pie.

 








Do you like Autumn walks?  Do you prefer to walk in forests, across fields, up mountains, or by the sea?

Wednesday 25 September 2013

Kitchen: Spiced Carrot and Chickpea Pilaf

Gosh, this is turning into a food blog lately!  My quest to use-up-all-the-tins-of-chickpeas continues.  Forcing me to be more inventive, I have sought out another winner of a recipe from the excellent Good Food website.

As usual, I 'tweaked' the recipe a little.  I added a good handful of chopped coriander, because I just love fresh herbs in things and I thought it looked a little too orange before this step.  I also added more harissa - it made it really quite spicy, oops!  So I've left the original quantity in the recipe below so you don't suffer the same fate.  I switched olive oil for rapeseed oil also, and used brown basmati rice instead of white.

There are different types of harissa too - this time I used a tube of harissa, like you find tomato puree in, that I found in the 'World Food' aisle of Asda for 75p.  Usually I buy those teeny jars that are about £1.40.  There was definitely a different flavour, I missed the complex, aniseed taste of the jars, this paste was more just pure heat!



This recipe makes quite a lot - there was enough for about 6 people as a side dish, and for 4 people as a main.  I was only cooking for myself, stupidly, so I now have a row of tupperwares in my fridge, I'll be eating this bloomin' pilaf for days!


Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 3 carrots (about 300g/11oz), coarsely grated
  • 2 tbsp harissa
  • 300g/ 11oz brown basmati rice, rinsed
  • 700ml/ 1¼ pints vegetable stock, made with 1 stock cube (or equivalent)
  • 400g can chickpeas, drained
  • 25g/ 1oz flaked almonds (I didn't bother toasting them but you can if you want!)

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a lidded casserole dish. Add the onions and cook for 8 mins, until soft. Tip in the carrots, harissa and rice and stir for a couple of mins. Pour over the stock, bring to the boil, then cover with the lid and simmer until the rice is nearly cooked (my brown basmati took 22-24 mins, so I simmered for 20 mins before moving on to the next step).
  2. Fork through the chickpeas and cook gently for 3-5 mins more, until the grains of rice are tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Season, add a handful of chopped coriander, turn off the heat, cover and leave to sit for a few mins.
  3. Sprinkle the almonds over the rice mixture and serve with a dollop of yogurt.

Monday 23 September 2013

Vintage Inspired Shopping: Cigarette Pants

Autumn is my favourite season, for everything, but especially for fashion.  I haven't been as excited this year because of the illness in the family, so am yet to hit the shops in search of vintage inspired buys.  A few things have caught my eye though through magazines and online browsing, so today I want to share with you a selection of vintage inspired cigarette pants.  They all sit on the waist, which is the essential feature for a vintage look.  I haven't yet found the perfect pair for me - maybe one of these is perfect for you?

The first are from The White Company (somewhere I never would have dreamed of looking, but I went to the launch of their Cardiff store and was impressed with the quality of their clothing).  They are fairly long, have a side zip, and are available in wool (£95) or a thick twill-type fabric (£85).  Alas, as I am tall and have prominent hip bones, they were just an inch too low in the waist, but they were a near-perfect fit otherwise.



Secondly, another wool pair (you can tell I'm expecting it to turn cold pretty soon!) from Cos (£79) with little zip detail on the ankles and a shorter length than the White Company ones.


Collectif had some fab 'Bonnie' cigarette trousers earlier this year but are sold out - they tend to restock a few times a year so keep an eye on their website.

For a custom pair, try Boo Boo Kitty Couture on Etsy - only £55, so perfect if you find it difficult to get a good fit with ready to wear items on the high street.


Finally, for larger ladies, you might want to give these cigarette trousers from Very a go, they're only £22 and available in sizes 14 to 28.


Has anyone else found the perfect cigarette pants for them?


Wednesday 18 September 2013

A Change of Pace

First of all, a big thank you to everyone's extremely kind words on my last post.  It never fails to amaze me how sweet everyone in the blogging community is, even though we've never met in person, I really do consider that I have a circle of blogging friends, and that means a lot to me.  I'm not sure that I spelled out in my last post what happened - my Baby's father passed away after a very long fight with cancer, as some of you already guessed.  The funeral was yesterday, and we're all a bit fragile today.  Although I don't tend to post much personal stuff, I really couldn't not mention it.  It's part of life, and I suppose I blog about my life and what matters to me, so there will be lots of non-vintage tangents at times.

It's really a time of change at the moment, and I'm pleased to also be able to share some happier news with you too...

I quit the job!

The one with the strict dress code, not the one with the tea drawer.  I'm back at my other job for the University on 4 days a week now.  (I hasten to add that the strict dress code wasn't the reason for leaving the other job!  It turned out it wasn't really enforced and was a lot more flexible than I initially thought.)  The commute proved to be pretty tiring, especially driving home after my shift on a Friday when the M4 ground to a halt.  I also didn't really see much scope for career progression, it wasn't quite the direction I wanted after all.

Anyway, it turns out that I would have had to quit anyway, because there is some other big news...

I'm moving up a mountain!

Yes, it's true, I am leaving the city, and my Baby and I are getting our first home together, on a hill up the Welsh Valleys.  It's going to be quite a different pace of life, and I will still have a commute but it will be by train, which will be cheaper and less stressful and I can actually catch up on the huge backlog of reading I have accumulated.  I'm hoping that with my extra day off I can do some voluntary work in the mental health field, but I also think that until I get that sorted there will be lots to do with a new home, and new skills such as painting and plastering and tiling to learn!

It's all change, and good to have something to look forward to in what has been a difficult time.  Just look at the scenery that will be 5 minutes drive from our new house.  We're both convinced that being in this beautiful natural landscape will aid the healing process and give us the new, fresh start that we're both craving.  Off we go, eyes on the horizon, a willingness to embrace all the future adventures we'll have, with good memories and love tucked firmly in our pockets.



Monday 9 September 2013

Intermission


I had some sad news in the night.  I'm taking a short break from the blogosphere, and leave you with this photo of the amazing clouds the other night.  I can understand why people see Heaven in our skies when nature is at its most beautiful like this.

Friday 6 September 2013

Kitchen: Nigella Inspired Red Cabbage Slaw

Has anyone tried the fabulous Christmassy coleslaw that's in one of Nigella Lawson's books?  It's a favourite of mine and I make it every year.

But why save red cabbage for Christmas?  It's perfect for late Summer and early Autumn.  I made my own version of the coleslaw last night that is more fitting of the present season.  I left out the fennel and beetroot because I didn't have any, I added apple, and I made it more zingy by adding coriander and lime juice.  You could probably use natural yoghurt instead of mayonnaise, but it will be more watery - best use that thicker, 0% fat Greek stuff if you want to keep a creamier consistency.

1/4 head read cabbage
2 eating apples (I used organic Discovery apples from my Dad's tree)
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp garam masala
A little black pepper
A tablespoon of mango chutney
Low fat mayonnaise - probably at least 3 tablespoons, more if you like your coleslaw very mayonnaisey!
Handful of chopped coriander


I served it with roasted vegetable cous cous and a mini naan bread.  You must think I live off mini naan bread, they've featured in the other meals I've posted recently - I've been using up a pack of them from the freezer!

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Vintage Event: Gatsby Styling Workshop in South Wales


Look what popped into my inbox!  The people behind Vintage Vision, a social enterprise based in Abergavenny in South Wales, are putting on a 1920's styling workshop on Thursday 5th September.  It looks great fun, and I'm disappointed that I can't go.

Here's what's in store for you:
The beautiful surroundings of the Ballroom at the Angel Hotel is the venue for our Styling evening on Thursday September 5th, from 7 - 9pm. Here you will have a chance to see and hear exactly what 20s style involves, for men and women ( and no, it's not all flapper dresses!) . There will be a hairdresser to show how short and long hair can be dressed, a seamstress to show you how an ordinary dress can be adapted, and the opportunity to see a 20s headdress being made. As well as that, there will be a chance to browse through racks of Gatsby style outfits - original and copies - and to see them modelled by our own Daisy Buchanan and Mia Farrow look alikes! Some very special accessories will also be on sale to help complete your outfit! Tickets are £10 and include a glass of wine. It promises to be a great evening , so get your tickets early, from the Vintage Vision shop in Abergavenny or Chepstow, or via e-mail on info@vintagevision.org.uk

 

 

Sunday 1 September 2013

Born In The Wrong Decade?

This post was supposed to announce that I'm off on my holidays to Spain with my Baby, but we've had some very sad news that his father is now terminally ill, and we have decided to stay, for what could be his last few weeks.  The diagnosis of cancer came 7 years ago, and it's thanks to the wonders of modern medicine that all of those additional years have been possible.  In the past, certain types of cancer would have meant a very swift death, and I have been thinking about how many blessings living in 2013 gives to us.

When I dress 'vintage' the most frequent comment I get is "You were born in the wrong era".  Which I don't agree with.  If I had been born in a vintage yesteryear, I would never have had all the amazing privileges which I have had.  When my mother left school in the early 1960s, she was asked if she wanted to be a secretary or a teacher.  Those were the only two choices for a woman without a university degree (in those days you couldn't go unless you had a language and my mother failed Latin!).  I have had the freedom to choose what I want from life.

So, I feel like I'm exactly where I'm meant to be in time.  I have the wonderful luxury of choosing to wear clothes from past decades but I also have the vote, financial independence, an education, contact lenses, and access to contraception.  I bet a woman from the 1940s would happily swap her entire wardrobe for that!

Let's not be too quick to yearn for bygone eras through rose-tinted vintage glasses.  Those eras came with many hardships, and whilst we might not always like everything about these modern times we live in, we can all appreciate just how lucky we are.

For my Baby and I, modern medicine has given precious additional years to someone dear to us, and while it is incredibly sad that time is now running out, we have so many blessings to count.
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